As parents, it’s easy to fall in love with everything a child resembles: joy, love, energy, and silly expressions that warm our hearts. Motherhood is a full-time job, and it changes us for the better. We also pick up skills during the time raising our children that can be applied to a wide range of career choices.
Sometimes, after our children have flown the nest, resuming normal life can feel daunting, especially because we’ve been so focussed on a certain mode of maternal being for so long. It can even become depressing over a period of time. But there’s no reason why your maternal skills and instincts should now go unused.
If you’re looking to get back on the career ladder, or simply change career paths to be focussed more in a direction you’d absolutely love to progress down, there’s never been a better time to capitalize on the strengths formed in motherhood, and do positive work in your local community.
The following list will help you with ideas that you might like to try in the pursuit of turning your love for children or motherhood skills into an important, successful career. You’ll likely bring skills to the trade you never foresaw yourself using.
Teacher
Teaching is an art more than a science, because not only do you need to keep the intricacies of your subject to mind, but you’re required to navigate and engage a host of greatly differing personalities. Becoming an early years teacher is great fun because instead of deep academic insight, your skills are much more valued in a way that closely resembles motherhood. Compassion, patience, caring and watchful vigilance are qualities that you’ve exercised for the entirety of raising your children, and so you’ll be much more likely to apply them in appropriate ways in the classroom.
Teaching young children is also a fantastic and important role to occupy, for the sole reason that you are the fundamental beginning of those children’s learning and approach to life. There couldn’t be a more important role in shaping how those children respond to authority, learning and achievement. Putting your best foot forward and drawing on all your skills learned in motherhood will be more that fruitful here. Teaching is also an emotional endeavor, as every year you’ll be greeted with a set of new faces. It’s a job that never gets old and is constantly rewarding.
Pass your initial qualifications and child safety checks, and you’ll be good to go!
Nursery Nurse
A nursery nurse works with young children from birth to about the age of seven or eight. This is similar to a teaching role, but with more of an emphasis on the emotional and health development of a child. Nursery nurses also provide guidance through a range of responsibilities, such as teaching basic hygiene, manners as well as assisting with general admin work alongside health and social care professionals. Nursery nurses, as signified by the role name, usually occupy nursery or preschool centers, and their presence is a necessary foundation of looking after the children who attend.
Registered nurses and licensed vocational nurses can work in nurseries, so if you’ve graduated in a nursing field before you became a mother, this could be the perfect place to apply your skills once more. Thanks to growing birth rates, the need for nursery nurses has skyrocketed, meaning it’s both a growingly lucrative and engaging career path to choose. Finding out more information on the Staffnurse blog is a great way to begin learning what requirements you’ll need to apply, and how to proceed after you’ve secured a job or begun training.
Librarian
Solid access to children’s books helps develop a child’s communication, imagination and writing ability. It’s also a great place to help children of gentler temperaments come out of their shells. Applying to work in a school library can help experience a hands-off approach to engaging with the children in the school, but your work in this role is no less important than any other.
Providing and recommending books to the school population, running literature themed events and helping out with the English department will allow you to have a positive cognitive impact on the development of students school-wide. Your role might also extend to helping children with their linguistic ability if they’re struggling, or help highly achieving children be exposed to programs that will further develop their skills.
If working in a school library isn’t available in your area, working in a public library can still give you great access to helping out children. Local schools often run joint programs with government buildings, and the library is no exception. Check out the websites for your local district and see if there are any jobs going, you might be just the person those departments need.
Day Care
If you prefer to work from home and have plenty of space since your children left, opening up your doors as a child day-care center could be just the ticket for you. Here, just before and just after school hours, you’ll function as a place parents can reliably and safely leave their children without keeping them at home alone, while they complete their work duties. You might feel hesitant accepting new children because it’s not always apparent what the temperament of that child is. This is perfectly fine, and in fact, it will be your responsibility to help identify whether or not the child is suitable for your center.
If you’ve raised disabled children, you’ll likely have an immeasurably valuable patience and understanding of the requirements those children need. Your day-care might be able to specialize here, in helping parents of those children who need a little more help feel safe with you. You won’t be able to accept as many children as you would otherwise during this route, and you’ll need to be mindful and draw up a list of how best to interact with your client’s children. You’ll also need to keep in mind how the children who attend your daycare will relate to each other, and let the parents know of any situations that might cause their child distress. It’s best to research what qualifications you’ll need here, because you’re more akin to a medical professional than a babysitter in some ways, and should proceed with that notion in mind.
No matter what day-care you run, it should prove a great way to earn money and inject your home with the love and youthfulness it deserves.
A parting thought to leave to the reading mothers is to trust yourself and your skills! Re-entering or changing paths in the job market is a scary thought, but having a child and raising a human life is ten times the scary thought, and you navigated that successfully. A mother is a strong, powerful force to be reckoned with, and any job you hold the qualifications to would be lucky to have you.
Keep this in mind, and you’ll find the career of your dreams and put your best motherhood skills to work.
